Forerunner: Improving Education in Helsinki Ten Ways to Improve Education and Learning in the City of Helsinki

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Forerunner: Improving Education in Helsinki Ten Ways to Improve Education and Learning in the City of Helsinki HUNDRED RESEARCH REPORT #008 Forerunner: Improving education in Helsinki Ten ways to improve education and learning in the city of Helsinki Report NOVEMBER 2019 HUNDRED.ORG Contents FORERUNNER: IMPROVING EDUCATION IN HELSINKI – TEN WAYS TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND LEARNING IN THE CITY OF HELSINKI Ruoho Noora, Leponiemi Lasse, Taimela Ilona (2019), ‘Forerunner: Improving education in Helsinki – Ten ways to improve education and learning in the city of Helsinki’ FOREWORD – THE CITY OF HELSINKI 4 HundrED Research. https://hundred.org/en/research FOREWORD – HUNDRED 7 Published November 2019 HUNDRED IN BRIEF 8 Authors Noora Ruoho, Lasse Leponiemi, Ilona Taimela Editors Chris Petrie, Katija Aladin, Saku Tuominen THE FINNISH EDUCATION SYSTEM 12 Graphic design Jyri Öhman / Kilda SYSTEM-LEVEL INNOVATIONS IN HELSINKI 26 Layout Maria Paukkunen / Iidee PHENOMENON BASED LEARNING 28 Conclusions and recommendations from HundrED reports represent the author’s own views. LEARNERS AS DECISION MAKERS 30 EARLY LANGUAGE LEARNING 32 Thank you to the Helsinki Education Division workgroup LOCAL DAYCARE AND SCHOOL 34 which made this work possible. EXPERT AND TUTOR TEACHERS 36 SMART LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 38 ENTREPRENEURIAL AND WORK LIFE SKILLS 40 WHOLE CITY AS A LEARNING ENVIRONMENT 42 DESIGN AND INVENTION PEDAGOGY 44 LEARNERS WELLBEING AND HEALTHCARE SERVICES 46 This report has been produced SOURCES 50 in cooperation with the City of Helsinki Education Division. HundrED also gratefully acknowledges the support of our global partner Supercell. HUNDRED RESEARCH HUNDRED.ORG HUNDRED.ORG 3 The goal in Helsinki is systemic change, with a focus on global future civic skills, the whole city as a learning environment, and the creation of a sustainable future. Foreword – The City of Helsinki Helsinki is a forerunner in education and one of the leading trailblazers in the world. Helsinki’s model of phenomenon based learning is at the core of learning in the city. Helsinki is reforming its educational activities and investing in digitalisation, various Phenomenon based learning is flexible and open to change. It emphasises commu- experiments and cooperation with startups, as well as social inclusion and equality. nity spirit, cooperation skills, the application of data, and creative and critical think- Education is unique in Finland, because regardless of the learner’s social, economic, ing. Whenever there is an event that interests students, schools are encouraged to ethnic or linguistic background, everyone has equal opportunities for learning and discuss it soon after. This will increase students’ understanding of the world, make obtaining a quality education. In Helsinki, every school is a good school. them more motivated to learn, and develop their skills. Education improves the city’s competitiveness and creates vitality and culture. This In Helsinki, our educational goal is to focus on learning and its development. We is realised by empowering the city’s schools and daycare centres as innovative edu- want to transform Helsinki into an innovative city of lifelong learning. cation and training developers that reform learning from pedagogical standpoints. Education must be able to predict and respond to increasingly rapid changes in so- ciety and the labour market. The goal in Helsinki is systemic change, with a focus on Liisa Pohjolainen VictorzonPicture: Hannes global future civic skills, the whole city as a learning environment, and the creation of a sustainable future. Digitalisation will bring significant pedagogical value to the Executive Director learning process, growth and development of learners. Helsinki is continuously and of the City of Helsinki Education Division systematically developing teachers’ pedagogical and digital expertise, and head- masters’ pedagogical and change management skills. 4 HUNDRED.ORG HUNDRED.ORG 5 Foreword – HundrED The operating concept behind HundrED stemmed from the needs of the Finnish international studies, a sustainable way of life, and global responsibility. This prac- education system. In 2016, Finland launched a new basic education curriculum, tice has created a fruitful starting point for the development of old and new oper- which was the product of a collaborative effort by teachers and professionals in ating models. the educational field. HundrED spent its initial years identifying Finnish educational innovations that helped teachers achieve the goals of the new curriculum. This report presents operating models for implementing the goals of the new cur- riculum, which were created within and are used by the City of Helsinki’s educa- Since the publication of the current curriculum, the international media have pub- tional system. Regarding the models presented in the report, it is worth noting lished partly incorrect information about the proposed educational reforms; some that they are being applied in public education throughout the city, with specific articles, for example, incorrectly claimed that Finland would give up teaching tra- resources being allocated for this. ditional subjects. Although the curriculum does not include such radical reforms, the change has nevertheless been significant for the Finnish education sector. Lasse Leponiemi Noora Ruoho The Finnish curriculum defines the subjects and overall themes that must be ad- dressed with regard to learners of different ages. With regard to implementing the Executive Director Researcher curriculum, the Finnish education system relies heavily on properly trained teachers and their pedagogical freedom to achieve their goals as they see fit. For those work- ing in education, the new curriculum created an interesting challenge in terms of how to renew practices and increase co-teaching to enable a multidisciplinary approach. The curriculum specified in more detail than previously a number of comprehensive, multidisciplinary subject combinations that cut across several traditional subjects. These could include: technology and society, multiliteracy and media, cultural and 6 HUNDRED.ORG HUNDRED.ORG 7 HundrED In a fast changing world multidisciplinary skills are needed in brief in addition to traditional academic skills. HundrED Manifesto HundrED in Practice The purpose of education is to help every child flourish, no matter what happens HundrED Global is a collection of 100 inspiring innovations in K12 education that HundrED’s Research team discovers and analyzes leading innovations in K12 in life. In a fast changing world focusing on traditional academic skills will remain are researched, interviewed and recognized by our research team as innovative, education globally to select 100 that are innovative, impactful and scalable. We important, but that is not enough. To thrive as global citizens, children must be impactful and scalable. also conduct original research to understand the enablers and barriers that lead to equipped with a breadth of skills. the spread of effective educational innovations. Moreover, we work with many HundrED Forerunners and Spotlights create partnerships between HundrED partners on highlighting leading educational innovations based on a theme or re- While we are advocates of child-centric approaches and personalized, pas- and local partner organizations to focus on a location or theme to research, under- gion for our spotlights. sion-based learning, the relationship between an inspired teacher and a moti- stand and share ten impactful & scalable innovations. vated student will remain essential. Assessment has to be aligned with the core To celebrate the release of our Global Collection we annually organize the HundrED purpose of helping kids flourish and all of this should be reflected in the learning HundrED Open is our open resource platform where anyone can share their in- Innovation Summit for the world’s most inspiring education innovators, educa- environment of the future. novative work in education for free and enter to be considered for the annual tors, youth and other engaged stakeholders, in Helsinki (Finland). HundrED Global Collection. To make this happen, we need visionary leadership at every level of our education system and ambitious education innovations; innovative, impactful and scalable HundrED’s Community comprises our innovators, educators, ambassadors, youth approaches that are effective also in low-resourced environments. and soon, funders. They support our work in discovering inspiring K12 education innovations and help us in spreading our annual innovation collections with local The world of education is full of hardworking specialists who are making this hap- education innovation communities. pen every day. At HundrED we work to give them the recognition and visibility they deserve. HundrED’s Media team create news articles and community blogs, and maintains HundrED’s digital platforms to help our global audience discover innovations from Our goal is to help improve education and inspire a grassroots movement by en- around the world easily. couraging pedagogically sound, ambitious innovations to spread across the world. 8 HUNDRED.ORG HUNDRED.ORG 9 HundrED Forerunners IMPROVING EDUCATION IN SYSTEMS The challenge At HundrED, we love all kinds of education innovators: from teach- The network Although these innovations differ slightly from the grassroots inno- ers to entrepreneurs and from-non profits to start-ups. We believe that impactful vations we’ve selected in the past, the end goal is still the same. If and when they and scalable innovations can make change happen. So far we have mostly focused are
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